Mumbai Metro’s Telecom Model Hits a Red Signal from Telcos

Mumbai’s ambitious Metro Line 3 has hit a regulatory roadblock as India’s top private telecom operators—Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio, and Vodafone Idea—have slammed the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation’s (MMRC) telecom infrastructure model as “illegal” and “anti-consumer.” The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), representing these telcos, has accused MMRC of breaching the Telecommunication Act, 2023, by awarding the deployment of telecom infrastructure to a third-party IP-I vendor, a move they say undermines both consumer interest and fair competition.
COAI argues that according to the existing regulations, IP-I service providers are prohibited from installing live telecom infrastructure, a task intended for licensed Telecom Service Providers (TSPs). The telecos had collaboratively offered installing a shared In-Building Solution (IBS) network at their own expense, and this would help provide seamless connectivity to commuters at no cost to MMRC. But their petition was denied, with MMRC choosing a vendor-led model in an internal tender, which is alleged to place commercial interests over public interest.

COAI requested MMRC to reconsider its stand, threatening that the existing direction could become a dangerous precedent and undermine consumer convenience and legal telecom deployment.

Source: The Economic Times